The European Missile Defense (EMD) system ran into further problems when the Czech Republic lower house in parliament canceled a vote on whether to approve the EMD.
Czech lawmakers in the lower house decided to cancel a vote on whether to approve the EMD, as proponents of the deal said they were unsure they had the votes to pass it, according to European news reports.
Public opinion on the EMD plan has been divided, with many Czechs and Poles opposing it.
That action followed an earlier postponement of the vote. However, the EMD issue still could be brought to a vote later, so the Czech decision doesn’t mean that EMD is dead.
Czech legislative support for the EMD never has been robust. Members of the Czech lower house have questioned why American advocacy of the EMD suddenly seems tepid, with President Obama observing that if Russia were to talk Iran into giving up its nuclear ambitions, there would be less need for the EMD.
In contrast, former President Bush strongly supported the EMD plan.
The EMD came a very long way toward being built before the current difficulties. When EMD critics in Congress set preconditions before the EMD could proceed, many of those hurdles were cleared. NATO approved EMD, as did administrative leaders in governments of the Czech Republic, where a radar would be installed, and Poland, where interceptors would be housed in ground silos. Also, the Czech upper house already approved EMD.
While Obama has said the United States requires missile defense, he also has said that any missile defense system must be shown in testing to work, and must be cost- effective.
At this point, EMD still must overcome hurdles written into law by congressional Democrats, such as requiring Czech and Polish legislative approval, and requiring that EMD interceptors must undergo testing, a move that would add two years or more to the program. Until then, EMD construction may not begin, under the congressional rules.
EMD interceptors are two-stage variants of the three-stage interceptors used in the existing Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.
GMD in-ground silos have been emplaced in Alaska and California to guard against long-range missiles fired by rogue nations such as North Korea.